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Egypt’s agony continues with resignations from the government and bloody clashes in the streets

Egyptian policemen protect an opposition demonstrater after a scuffle with members of the Muslim Brotherhood and supporters of Egypt's Islamist President Mohamed Morsi during clashes outside the presidential palace in Cairo Wednesday.Photo: Mahmoud Khaled/AFP/Getty Images

CAIRO — Tensions in the Egyptian capital reached new heights Wednesday after four of President Mohammed Morsi’s aides quit because they believe he has botched the promotion of a draft constitution that had been designed to enhance Islam’s role in government and because of a presidential decree that Morsi issued giving him sweeping powers.

The constitution that Morsi proposed last week has triggered unrest that reached a new peak Wednesday with bloody street battles that raged into the night between secularists seeking to diminish the influence of Islam in the document and much more numerous supporters of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood.

Discontent within Morsi’s inner circle over the draft constitution and the likelihood of serious mayhem in Cairo because of it has encouraged the secularists – a hodgepodge of liberals, left wingers, Coptic Christians and some supporters of the old, disgraced military regime – to call this the “decisive battle” in the struggle for Egypt’s political future.

But it is hard to see how the secularists can win their demands for a constitution that is not salted with ambiguous references to Islam’s role in Egypt such as the current proposal is. No matter how much noise the opposition makes – and it has been making a lot of noise – the best that the opposition can probably hope for is a slightly watered down version of the document that the conservative Brotherhood-dominated constitutional assembly came up with and which Egyptians will accept or reject in a snap referendum that was called last week for Dec. 15.

The truth is that hopes for a secular Egypt were doomed the moment the Muslim Brotherhood chose nearly two years ago to participate in the formal political process. The culprit was democracy.

As hard as it is for secular Egyptians and their western backers to swallow, there are more Egyptians who want Koranic scholars to advise the justice system, favour the introduction of Sharia law and demand a formal role for Islam in everyday life than there are Egyptians who are repelled by such theocratic thinking.

Democracy sometimes throws up governments that a substantial minority of the citizenry loathe. Speaking mostly to each other, the secularists convinced themselves that the Brotherhood could be defeated at the polls last winter. They are indulging in the same kind of wishful thinking over the constitution now. But wishing something is true does not always make it so.

Remember when all those secularists were interviewed again and again by excited western news anchors last winter. We marveled at these young men and women who spoke such polished English. We admired their idealism, their heroism and their commitment to democracy and values similar to our own. The only problem was that a majority of Egyptians who were not so articulate in English and not so western-oriented and therefore not so comforting to a western audience had very different ideas about the future of their country.

The same story is being played out today. The voices that still penetrate in the West think like we do. But the Brotherhood and its ultra-conservative allies, the Salafis, can still muster far larger crowds whenever it really wants than the secularists can. This has been proven at the ballot box, was proven at competing rallies last weekend and was proven again Wednesday outside the presidential palace.

The Brotherhood fares better at staging rallies because it is far better organized and focused than the opposition. And it has more supporters.

Regrettably, there is likely to be more political upheaval after Morsi’s draft constitution is approved. Egypt’s religious and cultural divide is real and growing. Wednesday’s clashes, which involved fire bombs, rocks and cudgels, were a warning. The split in Egyptian society, especially in Cairo, is more profound today than ever.

The conflict is likely to get worse as secularists, who only months ago touted the virtues of democracy and led the agitation that toppled Mubarark, denounce the Brotherhood and clamour for Morsi to be overthrown or to at least debate the constitution. The Brotherhood claims to be open to talks. Those from the opposition who walked out of constitutional assembly last month claim that this is not so.

The demonstrations and counter-demonstrations that have been taking place around the clock are heartfelt. But in a way this is all political theatre. The only meaningful card that has not yet been played by the opposition would be to urge the generals that they so recently despised to mount a coup on their behalf.

This is hardly a solution. The Islamists, having savoured their first taste of power after nearly eight decades on the outside, and knowing with a certainty that they are the majority, would go berserk.

As every Egyptian will tell you, they cannot imagine Cairo ever becoming Beirut. Egyptians, they say, have never resorted to that sort of violence. But with only a few small hints of accommodation so far, all bets may be off soon.

Postmedia's international affairs columnist is Canada's longest serving foreign correspondent. He has lived abroad for 30 years in Europe, the Middle East, Far East and, most recently, Afghanistan. His... read more work has taken him to 155 countries, all U.S. states, Canadian provinces and territories and the Magnetic North Pole. Professional interests include international relations, security issues, conflict zones and the Arctic. Personal enthusiasms include military histories, historical novels, hockey, baseball, fishing for pickerel and travel by train or ship to anywhere.View author's profile